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Engine Assembly
First things first; we’ll start with the HKS oil pump. (The author uses an upgraded oil pump, take a look at this very detailed technical article about: Why the Nissan Oil Pump Fails) Here are two shots of the housing and rotor cover, all cleaned up and ready to install. In addition to having much larger gears than the stock pump, the HKS pump also has ducts to bring oil to the rear of the rotors, as well. This greatly improves oil flow into the pump, reducing cavitation.

Author Note:Matt of MJR Performance sent us an emailwith details on this write up. This is not the only way to assemble the RB26 motor, there are many different thoughts and ideas, but this is just one way of doing it, as always, follow this guide at your own risk.

You can see the inlet duct for the rear of the rotors on the left. I guess it could be called a “bridge port”. There’s some scuffing from the rotors, but nothing you can feel with a fingernail. Even then, this pump has so much volume over a s…

When I needed to bleed the ATESSA All Wheel Drive system during an overhaul on the Never Ending R32 GTR Epic Build Story, I found a particularly good walk-through on the forums, and from Tyndago's site. So this is a combination from both. (RBS14 on GTRc and Tyndago). You need Nissan ATF fluid for this application, or any equivalent.Step 1: Fill the tank 30 mm above MAX line. The tank is located in right rear of your trunk.Step 2: Open the air bleeder on the oil pump. Crack it open until there is no more air coming out and you get fluid dripping. This air bleeder is located on the pump on top of the rear diff. Bleeder is on right side. Can’t miss it.

Step 3: After you tighten up that bleeder go and turn the ignition on. Don’t start the car just turn the key to IGN (Ignition).

Step 4: You need to unclip the air bleeder connector. This is a white clip located under the dash on the right side behind your kick panel" Opposite side of your ECU" Might be a good idea to un screw …

The HICAS system is Nissans' attempt at a super-handling 4 wheel steering type of thing, for anyone who's driven a car with 4 wheel steering in any sort of spirited driving, you realize pretty quickly that its less of an aid and more of a downfall. You see, driving faster than 80 km/hr the system will become active, and as you turn around a corner or make quick steering changes, the rear wheels will turn one degree in and out, for a total three degree sweep while you're driving. This system works really well if you want to change lanes really fast, but if you're more into putting the car sideways in a four-wheeled power slide, then the HICAS will become your worst enemy.

As the rear end steps out, the HICAS activates to counter the rear end slide, but because you expected the rear end to come out you've already begun to counter steer. So as you turn the wheel, the HICAS turns the rear wheels, and undoes what you've just done! Suddenly you're swerving wildly a…

Oil Pump ProblemsThese Japanese super cars had a common problem that would often lead to the self-destruction of the motor. The Achilles Heel of the Skyline RB26 motor is the oil pump, I personally caught this issue on my own Second GTR (Build Story) leading me to replace it with a new one . This wasn't a problem on all Skylines, only the GTR's made between 1989 and 1991, after 1991 Nissan fixed the issue. Most people will tell you the problem is the width of the drive on the oil pump gears, they say the engagement area is too small, while that may be true (by appearance), it also isn't the 100% exactly correct answer... The real problem is on the nose of the crank, the clearance between the nose of the crank and the part that drives the oil pump inner gear was too loose. The inner circumference of the oil pump inner drive gear was actually too much larger than the outer total circumference of the crank nose. The extra play had no effect on the motor at low RPM, but at high…

This Guide will walk you through the key steps for pulling an engine from a car, whether you're doing a rebuild or motor swap, you'll see step-by-step how I removed this RB26 Engine and got it back together perfectly. The same method I followed here will make working on ANY car fool-proof!Start by getting a note book, a sharpie marker, Ziploc plastic baggies and masking tape. There are so many connectors, nuts and bolts to keep track of when pulling the engine from the GTR, and believing you can remember where everything goes by heart is a foolish assumption for a first timer. I am assuming this tear down is down from a first timers perspective, so everything will be as detailed as possible. This is by no means the quickest way to remove the engine, nor is it 100% easier then any other way, but this is how I managed to get it done, It didn't cost me an arm and a leg, and everything worked perfectly once all was said and done.The # 1 rule is: "If you remove it, or unpl…

Picking the right one... October 8, 2008After the experience I'd had with my first Skyline, I was on the hunt for one that would more suit my level of experience. In the very back of a warehouse, covered in dust, I'd found A 1991 Nissan Skyline GTR in Pearl Metallic red, with roughly 110,000 km on the clock, the reason I chose this one in particular was because it was 100% stock. It had ZERO modifications, not a single thing! and that's such a rare thing to find in these cars, its one of the only ways you can be sure the car is in good condition. We had it up on the lift where we did the inspection, no leaks, nothing out of place, not even any dents or scratches on the frame rails where you usually see evidence of improper jack lifting. Then we had at it with a compression test... Everything showed above 150 PSI. Stock motors fresh from the factory will see 160 PSI... so showing above 150 on all cylinders was really good, I had found the gem! the oh so rare, un-abused Skyli…

With any car that's been on the road a decade or two, there's bound to be an abundance of dirt and grime in the engine bay, one of the cheapest things you can do to improve the look and condition of the car is to tidy up the engine bay. There are varying degrees of engine bay clean-up, at the basic end you can use a degreaser and a rag to clean as much as possible. I opted for a more extreme clean, since I had the engine out of the car, this allowed me to do much more.

There is an awful lot of stuff in the engine compartment, that really doesn't need to be there, so to start things off I relocated the battery to the trunk. A full procedure for that can be found here in this technical article: Battery Relocation The next thing to go and be moved to the trunk was the windshield washer fluid reservoir bottle. At the same time you can reroute the wiring harness to be hidden near the front rad support using tie-wraps. The exact procedure for the washer bottle is outlined in the t…

An engine compression test is used to investigate the condition of the engine. The basic theory is that by using the starter motor to crank over the engine, you remove the spark and fuel and see how much pressure each cylinder will build.

The compression test is often confused with a leak-down test. We always start with a compression test because if the compression across all the cylinders is above the minimum required spec, and each cylinder is within 10% deviation of all the other cylinders, then it's fair to assume the engine is in good shape. The engine leak-down test comes after you perform a compression test, if one or more of the cylinders showed bad compression. By adding a few drops of oil through the spark plugs holes at the top of the cylinder you can effectively temporarily seal the piston rings. Then you re-do the compression test and see if the numbers improved. If the compression holding did go up, then you know the problem is with the piston rings. If the numbers did…

RB26 Engine Turbo Swap & External OverhaulThis guide picks up where the Pulling the RB26 Engine walk-through left off. Having just separated the transmission from the engine, we now look to remove the old turbos and then set up the new ones. There is a lot of patience needed to do this, as there are a many fragile parts. It does take quite some time to complete this, maybe even a day or two if its your first time. First thing to do is remove any intake piping that may still be attached, put it off to the side. There is an array of metal and vacuum hoses just above the heat shields, and it wraps around the back-side of the engine, remember to label each line that you disconnect.There is also the water feed line, which spans the length of both heat shields, these lines have been heat cycled for 20 years - and unless you plan to replace with stainless steel braided lines (as I have done) - then you need to be very careful when removing the lines or they will crack, as in the picture b…